Edmond Memorial High School (EMHS) is full of talented hard-working students, especially within the performing arts department. On Wednesday, Feb. 16 students showed off their talent as the show choirs competed at the Duncan Show Choir Festival, and both groups came back with numerous awards.

There are two show choirs at EMHS: Act II (mixed choir) and Take Note (treble choir). They are each made up of students sophomore to senior year.

This year the show choirs were pushed to new levels as their dance was taken up a notch with a harder choreographer.

“We had to constantly review choreography because it was very challenging this year, but that’s what made it really cool,” Kennedy Vanover, a Junior in Act II, said.

The difficult choreography paid off, and Act II earned the “Best Choreography” awards, along with “Best in Class 6A” and “High School Sweepstakes.” Winning sweepstakes means Act II earned best performance out of the whole two-day contest.

Not only was Act II successful at the contest, Take Note was as well. They earned “Best Women’s Show Choir” and “Best Vocals” awards. Those wins were the result of many hours of rehearsal.

Both of the show choirs worked hard and dedicated their time to create their sets.

“We practice every day from the start of class to the finish of class,” Emily Burrus, a Senior in Take Note, said.

In addition to performing at contests, they also perform at various after school events, including choir concerts and EMHS’ annual variety show, “Follies.”

The directors of the show choirs, husband and wife Wesley Singleton (Act II) and Mary-Beth Singleton (Take Note) are happy with the work and commitment from their students this year.

“There are many parts of show choir I enjoy, but I think the thing that sticks out is the willingness of the students to commit to two vocal music groups in their daily schedule,” Singleton said. “This is sometimes a difficult choice that has to be made.”

Students in show choir are required to also take traditional choir class, which means being in show choir takes up two elective spots in their schedule. Having 51 students committed enough to the EMHS choral program to use two electives for choir speaks volume about the dedication of the students.

Not only are show choir members dedicated and successful, but the students are like a family to each other.

“I’ve made a lot of new friends and I’ve grown closer to the performing arts community,” Burrus said. “It’s just really fun to perform together.”

The show choirs will have more performances at EMHS throughout the rest of the year, including a showing of their contest sets to raise money for Swine Week (the school’s annual theme week to raise money for charity) on Thursday, Mar. 10.

Act II and Take Note have been very successful, bringing many awards and honors back to EMHS.

“I’m very proud of the work of Act II 2021-2022,” Singleton said. “They are a dedicated group of students who work hard for success.”

The show choirs are using song, dance and hard-work to make EMHS a better place.

Contact Kelsi Seltenreich at [email protected]